Once regarded as cuddly, chimpanzees seem downright demonic following the incident in Connecticut in which a pet ape destroyed somebody's face. Nim, the subject of this provocative documentary by James Marsh (Man on Wire), won't do much for the species' reputation, and it's even less generous toward Homo sapiens. Four decades ago Herb Terrace, a Columbia University linguist, took the infant Nim (full name: "Nim Chimpsky") and resettled him with the well-to-do family of Stephanie, his former student (and lover). The purpose: to teach Nim sign language and prove that chimps can use it to communicate. Inevitably, the experiment revealed more about the humans than the animal. As he grew older, Nim developed an Oedipal relationship with Stephanie. "It was the '70s," says the foster mom as she recalls how the ape explored her body. The story gets more absurd and sadder after that; and though Marsh's Errol Morris-like style can get glib, it never gets boring.

Ring master At its best, Tyson becomes its subject's psychotherapist, allowing him to disgorge with no judgment and little restraint his memories, fantasies, impulses, and fears.

Review: The Garden The title of Scott Hamilton Kennedy's complex, provocative, ultimately uplifting documentary invariably calls to mind Genesis, and parallels can be drawn.

Review: Amarcord In memory, Federico Fellini's 1973 work, an Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film, stands among his masterpieces. But seen today, Amarcord is something of a disappointment, clever and moving in places, but also sprawling, undisciplined, clumsy in patches, and decidedly overlong.

Review: Creation God-fearing creationists won't find anything to worry them in Jon Amiel's stiff, stodgy, PBS-style telling of the life of Charles Darwin (Paul Bettany) during the time he was writing (slowly, very slowly) The Origin of Species .

Review: The Last Station Traversing the spectrum from farce to tragedy, Michael Hoffman's magnificent The Last Station suggests what the story of Count Leo Tolstoy's final days would look like if Chekhov had told it.

Review: Edge Of Darkness A new genre is emerging in which aging A-list actors play fathers off on a rampage to rescue their daughters or avenge their deaths.

Review: Frozen A storm is coming, the girl has to pee, and then things get much worse.

Review: Catfish The Internet was supposed to make meeting people easier. Instead, as this ingenious documentary from Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman demonstrates, it's made the process immeasurably more complex, ambiguous, and fraught with danger.

Review: Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno This autopsy of an unfinished 1964 film by the great French director Henri-Georges Clouzot ( The Wages of Fear ) holds fascinations — and frustrations — for the avid franco-cinephile.